LYRICS OF WAR AND PEAC 




W'M;^ 



WILLIAM DUDLEY FOIJLKI 




Class _H 



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LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



LYRICS OF 
WAR AND PEACE 



WILLIAM DUDLEY FOULKE, LL. D. 

II 

AUTHOR OF 

Slav and Saxon, Maya, Life of O. P. Morton 

Protean Papers, History of the Langobards, Dorothy Day 

Masterpieces of the Masters of Fiction 

Some Love Songs of Petrarch 



INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



v/ 

copykight 1916 
The Bobbs-Merrill Compant 



\\9 (K 



/^^'.V 



^^^^ 



PRESS OF 
BRAUNWORTH & Ca 
BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 
IBOOKLYN, 




APR i5i9i6 
©CI. A 4 28 519 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

IN WAR-TIME 

Fall, Silent Snow 1 

Night Thoughts 2 

To THE New Year 3 

Lo! SUMMEE Ck)METH 4 

The Rain 5 

V^ ViCTis 6 

Remorse 7 

BEYOND THE SEAS 

To Pompeii 11 

To Italy 12 

Valsolda's Voices 13 

By Valsolda 14 

Moods 17 

Among the Alps 18 

LOVE AND LIFE 

In Absentia 23 

The Return 25 

In Yosemite 26 

The Vision of Daphnis 27 

Sapphics 28 

Clouds 31 



CONTENTS— Continued 

PAGE 

May and Octobeb 34 

Darby and Joan 35 

A Daughtee's Love 36 

Laus Deo 37 

The Humanist 38 

Happiness 39 

Mothers 40 

Dies Nefastus 41 

Early Spring 42 

The Dream of Youth 43 

A Retrospect 44 

Indian Summer 45 

De Senectute 46 

Falling Leaves 47 

Pallida Mors 48 

The Bee 53 

How Shall They Think of Me 55 

Beyond the Veil 56 

NoN Piangere 57 

PERSONALIA 

Petrarch 61 

Oliver P. Morton 62 

Theodore Roosevelt 63 

To James Whitcomb Riley 64 

To the Sonnet 65 



CONt'ENTS— Continued 

PAGE 
AD PATRIAM 

Ad Patriam 69 

The City's Cbown 76 

To Womankind 77 

The Pawpaw 80 

TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE 

To Amabyllis 83 

To Polyphemus 89 

The Cyclops' Answer 90 

The Song of Boukaios 91 

Hymn to Aphrodite 93 

The Tutor of Love 97 

The Portrait 98 

Metamorphoses 100 

Dante on Beatrice 102 

Petrarch 103 

Before San Guido 104 

King Chand to the Daughter of Mitra . . . 118 

Beloved of My Heart 119 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



IN WAR-TIME 



FALL, SILENT SNOW 

Fall, silent snow, from out the pitying sky 

And hide our guilty world ! Cover them all — 
The corpses that in reeking trenches lie — 

The Belgian, the Briton and the Gaul, 
Teuton and Slav; fall softly then and deep 

On ruined home and blasted field and wood; 
To thy cold pillow let the wounded creep 

Till Death at last brings peace — and brother- 
hood ! 
O couldst thou hide despair ! Couldst thou but stay 

The pangs of famine ! Couldst thou still the cry 
Of desolate mothers, couldst thou but allay 

The widow's grief and hush the maiden's sigh 
O'er broken hopes ! How many a winter's snow 
Must fall ere time shall heal this universal woe ! 

1 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



NIGHT THOUGHTS 

Through the long night I tossed ; the drums of war 

Hammered upon my heart; the winter wind 
Cried out for vengeance upon those who bore 

The guilt of this great crime against mankind. 
What was it for? What destiny malign. 

What thirst for empire, boundless power and 
fame 
Could unto hopeless ruin, thus consign 

The innocent, and set the world aflame ? 
How will it end ? What prophet shall foretell 

The dire reprisals and the final doom? 
And they who opened wide this fiery hell. 

When shall they leap into the flaming tomb? 
In what far Heaven doth the Almighty keep 
His thunderbolts? Where doth His justice sleep? 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



TO THE NEW YEAR 

O YEAR unborn ! what hell thine eyes must see 

When they unclose ! Thy snowy mantle red 
With precious life blood flowing aimlessly 

Thro' the deep trenches and around the dead ! 
What blasts of bursting shells shall smite thine ear ! 

What groans attend the anguish of thy birth ! 
What drum-beats, smothering cries of pain and 
fear. 

Roll their loud curses o'er the shivering earth ! 
Forth from thy snows what blackened ruins rise 

Of wasted cities with their battered walls. 
Of tall cathedral spires that pierced the skies. 

Of thatch-roofed cottages and stately halls. 
By war's wild fury shattered, wrecked and torn — 
And one short week ago the Prince of Peace was 
born ! 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



LO! SUMMER COMETH 

Lo ! Summer cometh through her emerald gate 

With life renewed in flower and bird and tree 
And love hath made all things articulate 

And filled the world with joy and melody; 
Yet over all these smiling fields of green 

Hate, the destroyer^ reigns^ and mine and shell 
Burst from the earth and sea and sky serene 

And myriads perish in a flaming hell. 
Nature would stretch her loving hand to save, 

And lift her voice to comfort every cry. 
The turf is green that grows on many a grave 

And blossoms clothe the fields where heroes lie; 
But in despairing hearts what summer's bloom 
Shall hide with flowers of hope this universal tomb ? 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



THE RAIN 

Is it the battle's vapors that have spread 

Their curtain o'er the crystal of the sky^ 
Till the thick clouds that hung above the dead 

Have shrouded all the world's immensity? 
Week upon week the tireless rains descend^ 

And field and wood are covered with the gloom; 
The sullen hours drag on that have no end 

Like evil omens of a general doom. 
'Tis vain_, O sun^ to turn thine eye away 

From fields of slaughter; though the clouds 
may hide 
The shame and horror^ yet they can not stay 

The onward sweep of war's remorseless tide. 
Shine forth and cheer a world by conflict torn^ 
Till peace shall dawn at last upon some happier 
morn. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



V^ VICTIS 

Woe to the vanquished ! Let them perish all ! 

Both men and nations ! Life is for the strong 
And not for weaklings. Smite them till they fall ! 

Justice is dead ; there is no right nor wrong ! 
Woe be to those whose innocence alone 

Is all their armor^ for the conqueror's sword 
Shall desolate their land and they shall groan 

Under the stern rule of an alien lord. 
My country! Thou art strong and great of soul. 

But sleeping, and thy sword is put away. 
Awake! What hostile drum-beats round thee roll 

What foes may crush thee or what friends betray ! 
Arise ! while war's red gospel fires the sky, 
Shalt thou alone all undefended lie ? 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



REMORSE 

They sent us forth to search the town. **Spare 

neither child nor man. 
Woman nor any living thing" — 'twas thus the 

order ran. 
I entered a low dwelling, I climbed the humble 

stair, 
I searched in vain; there was no voice, no footfall 

anywhere. 
I turned to go ; a curtain moved ! behind it was a 

child, 
A blue-eyed boy by the window stood and looked 

at me and smiled. 
I thought to leave him there unharmed. How 

could a father kill 
The helpless thing that trusted him and had no 

thought of ill? 



8 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

But then the soldier's duty spoke^ *'A soldier must 

obey, 
'Tis not for him to pity when the order is to slay." 
I shot the boy ! I hear to-day his wild despairing 

cries, 
I see the look he gave me from those clear re- 
proachful eyes. 
Where'er I go that memory is ever at my side 
And even in the silent grave the vision will abide. 



BEYOND THE SEAS 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 11 



^O POMPEII 

As is the face of one but newly slain — 

All motionless^ yet filled with seeming life, 
With lips half parted and with eyes astrain, 

And cheeks yet red with anger of the strife — 
Thus, stricken city! through these buried years, 

Thy death-cloth drawn away, thou art revealed 
As one just fall'n; thy passions and thy fears 

As keenly marked as when thy fate was sealed. 
On the soft breast that hid those fires below. 

Thy luxury reclined, but all the art 
That Greece did with her delicate hand bestow 

To deck thy beauty, could not change thy heart. 
Which still confesses, in this tainted dust 
Thy greed, oppression, cruelty and lust. 



12 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



TO ITALY 

Fair land^ all hearts are captive unto thee ! 

Thy casket holdeth every jewel rare 

Wherewith God decks the world; thy golden air 
Laden with languid joy; the sapphire sea 
That doth enfold thy shores; the mystery 

Of opalescent clouds above the green 

Of emerald hills with crystal lakes between ; 
Thy peaks^ ice crowned in glittering maj esty ! 
Nor nature fair alone, but history 

With every scene her subtle charm doth twine. 
Doth fill each grove with some bright memory 

And in each wall some precious deed enshrine, 
While we are bound in the soft witchery 

Of beauty, music, song and art divine ! 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE IS 



VALSOLDA'S VOICES 

The plash of ripples on the garden wall; 

The chime of distant bells; the whir of wings; 
The warbling of the wren; the cuckoo's call; 

The lark's clear notes when to his mate he sings; 
The sparrows' chatter; and when these are stilly 

From the dark thicket^ the melodious song 
Of nightingales that all the air doth fill 

And deep into the day their strains prolong; 
The chorus on the water far away; 

The rustle of the palm that would beguile 
The sighing airs which through the cypress stray — 

On sound^s like these the listening heavens smile ! 
Into that silent blue, the white peaks rise 
And here I sit and this is Paradise ! 



14 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



BY VALSOLDA 

Love, we have traveled far together and we have 

seen many things. 
We have bestirred us from morning until night in 

search of novelties — 
Paintings by the masters, sculptures of ancient 

days. 
Churches and palaces and gardens that filled our 

eyes with wonder. 
Castles upon lofty heights and cities with many 

towers and battlements. 
Now let us rest a while and fill our souls with one 

scene only; 
It is a scene incomparable, let us fix it in our 

memories forever; 
The same, yet changing, with light and shade al- 
ternate ; 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 15 

Mountains heavy with clouds and then rejoicing in 

a sunlight that seems eternal; 
A lake now slumbering^ now foaming, now rippling 

with laughter; 
Green climbing hills with villages clinging to their 

sides 
And rugged peaks above them; vineyards and ter- 
race walls. 
Moss covered and with cactus crowding through 

the crannies; 
Flowers everywhere and a quiet air yet overflowing 

with the harmonies of birds; 
Tall cypress sentinels to guard the churchyards 

and the dwellings 
And to watch over the magnolias and palmettoes. 
Such too has been the landscape of the days that 

we have lived together; 
Peaks of aspiration that glistened in the sunshine, 

and anon were covered by clouds ; * 



l6 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

The waters of life^ now calm^ now stirred to fiiry^ 
now laughing in the breeze; 

Clinging companionships like those vines and vil- 
lages^ some weeds too that have grown in 
the crannies, 

But over all the beautiful heaven filled with the 
songs of birds 

And the green around us and the flowers and the 
cypress that shall guard our bodies at the 
end. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 17 

MOODS 

'Tis dawn. The clouds hang low upon the hills. 

The lake is leaden — not a breath to stir 
The tiniest wave. A heavy silence fills 

All space. The gray world is a sepulcher ! 

Now the breeze flutters^ and blue isles of light 
Steal through the gray; alternate sun and shade 

Fleck the crisp waters^ scale the mountain height, 
Sport on the crag and gambol through the glade ! 

The clouds are gone; and in the glittering sheen 
Of morning sunlight. Spring, a jeweled bride, 

With flowers and songs of birds and tender green 
Of wood ^nd meadow, draws her veil aside ! 

And look ! far off where white peaks pierce the sky ! 
'Tis there earth touches immortality ! 

Lugano, May 1, 1913. 



18 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



AMONG THE ALPS 

Once more among the mountains ! Hither still 

My old love calls with memories replete 
Of rapture^ when those ^rags I scaled. What thrill 

Of conquest^ with the whole world at my feet ! 
The start before the dawn ; the rapid climb 

Through the green meadows^ up the rocks and 
snow 
Under the starlight^ where in ranks sublime 

Those great white giants stand. Now far below 
The tinkling bells grow faint^ I hear no more 

The rush of water; silence like the tomb. 
An Alpine silence_, falls; the mountains hoar 

Stand still and wait till dawn shall break the 
gloom ; 
Till passionate sunbeams pierce the rosy flush . 
And the pale peaks greet their lovers with a blush ! 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 19 

Now the pink light is creeping softly down 

Those giant folds till the thick morning haze 
That lies like fleece on valley^ field and town 

Doth slowly melt beneath the warming rays ! 
The clouds below me break ; islands of green 

Come peering forth and wide and wider grow_, 
Till woodland,, lake and river^ in the sheen 

Of the clear morning sunlight^ smile and glow. 
Day has awakened; on the lonely peak 

Where I did greet its comings blistering rays 
Flash keen across the snow. Now down ! and seek 

A timely shelter on those perilous ways 
Where tumbling masses crash and the dull roar 
Of the avalanche chills the spirit to its core. 



LOVE AND LIFE 



DYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 2S 



IN ABSENTIA 

In what strange ether move those waves of light 
Between thy heart and mine ? What spirit air 

Quivers with thy dear voice, both day and night, 
In dreams and waking hours? Thy silken hair 

Lies loose in shining waves for my caresses ; 
The eyes that rest on mine are passing fair 

The while I toy with those soft rippling tresses. 

I hear thee, see thee, touch thee. Can it be 

Thou art so far and that the words I hear 
Have spread their wings over the land and sea 

Ere they alighted on my eager ear; 
That what I see is but the picture fair 

That fancy fashions when it turns to thee; 
That what I touch is but the image rare 

That blissful memories have wrought for me ? 



24 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

What love unspeakable thy smiles do tell! 

'What floods of passion through thy bright eyes 
stream ! 
Surely in some diviner sphere we dwell^ 

We two alone^ with all the world a dream ! 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 25 



THE RETURN 

Softly she entered through the open door. 

I looked upon her^ and it was the sun 
Shining on all the world ! I looked once more^ 

And lo ! a rose ! and like it there was none ! 
A fair white rose that glistened with the dew! 

Then a low voice with music filled my heart 
And veiled mine eyes in tears. Could it be true, 

And was she there indeed? Why did we part? 
At last the days of absence all were o'er ! 

Then the warm kiss, the hand upon my brow. 
The quiet talk of what had gone before. 

And all the things that we alone did know ! 
In that low murmur and that fond caress 
What an eternity of happiness ! 



26 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



IN YOSEMITE 

Ah-wah-ne^s gentle vale is lying low 

Deep at the foot of many a hoary hill. 
Across her face the breezes come and go 

And visions not of earth the senses fill — 
The mountain, mirrored in the lake serene — 

The giant cliiF that rears its crest on high — 
The stream that winds through wood and meadow 
green — 

The crystal torrent, leaping from the sky! 
Yet lovelier than the mountain or the stream, 

Or the soft airs that through the woodland stray, 
Were those dear eyes that made the world a dream 

And the low voice that stole my heart away. 
Methought each waterfall and rock and tree 
Did homage to that bright divinity. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 27 



THE VISION OF DAPHNIS 

There is a voice that charms me while I dream, 

A face that bends above me in my sleep, 
And rippling tresses touch me that do seem 

Woven of sunbeams. Then from slumber deep 
I waken, but the radiant vision still 

Bides at my side, a woman's perfect form 
Instinct with gracious life. A joyous thrill 

Mantles her cheek with red, her breath is warm, 
Her eyes are tender; now her lips press mine 

And murmur low sweet words, while a white arm 
Doth rouild my neck in close embracement twine 

As though to shelter me from care and harm. 
Nor is our love the passion of a day 
But long hath been and shall be ours alway. 



28 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



SAPPHICS 



**Then had ^neas perished, King of men, 

Had not Jove's daughter, Venus, quick perceived 

His peril imminent." 

— Cowper's Iliad, v. 360. 



Wet with white foam-flakes and with dew of 

mornings 
Breathing forth desire from their eager nostrils^ 
Stand the steeds^ fire-eyed^ and with feet impatient ; 
Aching for combat. 

All around were hosts of the stern Achaians, 
All around were hosts of the valiant Troj ans. 
While above were gathered the gods of Heaven ; 
Silence was on them. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 29 

Silence deep and dread as when clouds of heaven 
Roll together^ pause for the fiery combat. 
Pause, ere red flames flash and the crash of thunders 
Shivers the darkness. 

Rings the loud lash! Wild as the waves of ocean 
Leap those flaming steeds, as a hungry tiger. 
Crouched long time in rushes and grass in silence, 
Leaps on his victim ! 

Now ^neas, flushed with the dawn of battle. 
Joyful speeds to cope w^th the brave Tydides; 
Him he spied afar, in his might rejoicing. 
Smiting the Trojans. 

Then the heroes, shouting a noise of battle. 
Joined in conflict; high from the earth Tydides 
Raised a great rock, hurled it against the Trojan, 
Smote him with darkness. 



so LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Now u^neas^ fallen to earthy had perished. 
Save that Venus, darling of Jove, espied him ; 
She, in white arms, gently her dear son lifting. 
Bore him from battle. 

Foam-born mother ! so unto us descending. 
Worn with toil and labor and dust of battle. 
Bear us up on white arms of love, and grant us 
Rest in thy bosom. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 31 



CLOUDS 

Yes, the smiling clouds are angels. 

Angels of the air; 
On the path from earth to Heaven 

Peri bright and fair. 
They are messengers of plenty. 

Raining happy harvests down; 
Now they gild the skies of sunset, 

Now the hoary hills they crown. 
Forms fantastic, visions rare 
Flit and hover ever in the air. 

Now they vaunt the pride of armies. 

Marching with the gale ; 
Now they breathe in rainy darkness, 

Sorrow's plaintive tale. 



32 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Now they come^ the moon's attendants. 
Following the steps of love; 

Now they speak in gloomy thunders. 
Direful wrath of gods above. 

Human passions^ dark and fair. 

Pictured by the angels of the air. 

Yonder is a cloudy palace^ 

Just a minute old — 
Roof of pearl and walls of silver, 

Pillars bright with gold ; 
Now it is a mighty mountain, 

Towering tall and grim and high ; 
Now, like forms of shadowy dreamland. 

All go flitting, flitting by ; 
Lights of joy and shades of care. 
Chasing one another through the air. 



tVRICS OF WAR AND PEACE S3 

Colors rich in cloudy beauty 

To the earth are given^ 
But the brightest hues are cherished 

For the eye of Heaven. 
Like those angels of the sunlight 

Is the heart of one I love; 
Dear is she to all around her^ 

Dearer yet to One above. 
Sweet to us yet passing fair 
To that keen Eye that searcheth everywhere. 



34 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



MAY AND OCTOBER 

Thrice blest am I that through the changing years 

No change in love I find; that the young face 
That nestled close upon my breast appears 

Fair as when first I saw it. Still the grace 
Of every motion charms. Her hair is white — 

I love it so. The lines upon her brow — 
I see them not. Her eye is just as bright^ 

Her glance as tender and her voice as low 
As when it spoke the words that made us one. 

Or when its music sang my heart away 
In passionate youth. Nay, our October sun 

Is mellower than the richest tints of May. 
Her dauntless spirit never can grow cold 
Nor rust of age tarnish a heart of gold. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 35 



DARBY AND JOAN 

A QUIET face is near me while I write 

And radiates content. We sit alone^ 
Her fingers ply the needle^ skilful, light — 

Anon her eyes seek mine. Our brood has flown. 
Yet the days are full of sunshine; ay^ too fast 

They hasten by and we full well^o know 
By our white locks, such fair days can not last; 

That soon the hour draws near when one must go 
And leave an empty world ! The future hides 

The riddle we would ask, ''Which shall it be?" 
For bitterer the lot of him who bides, 

A happier fate to sail the unknown sea ! 
Old comrades we in fair and stormy weather^ 
As comrades still, why not leave port together f 



S6 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



A DAUGHTER'S LOVE 

A HAPPY father thou^ when sturdy sons 

In mellowing age thy golden youth renew^ 
In them thy name through generations runs^ 

By them achieved^, th}^ early dreams come true. 
But happier he whose daughters round him twine 

Their loving arms in his declining years^ 
And if he smile^ their eyes with gladness shine 

Or if he grieve^ their cheeks are wet with tears; 
For deeper tenderness hath woman's heart 

For him she loves than son for sire can feel; 
His waning hours she cheers with simple art; 

And o'er his couch a fragrant breath doth steal 
From gentle lips whence no reproaches come 
And a fond breast where thouo-ht of self is dumb. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE S7 



LAUS DEO 

How I do bless the hour that gave me birth 

And her who bore me for these happy years^ 
Filled to the brim with every joy of earthy 

Wreathed with its roses^ scant alone in tears ! 
Full life and vigor^ lit by golden rays 

Of constant friendship; faithful wife and fair^ 
Nay^ fairer grown in these declining days. 

While evening's light streams on her silver hair; 
Children and children's children at her knees 

In filial homage ; low soft words of love 
Around a warm bright hearth — what more than 
these 

Can fruitful earth bestow or Heaven approve? 
One gift alone God's bounty still can send 
And close a fair life with a peaceful end. 



38 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



THE HUMANIST 

Go^ surly anchorite and crush the flowers, 

Stifle the songs of birds on every bough, 
Strip every leaf of pleasure from the hours. 

Walk with a crown of thorns upon thy brow ! 
Mumble thy prayers; look not in woman's eyes. 

With scourge and sackcloth make thy life a hell, 
Then claim for this thy place in paradise! 

For all thy torments God reward thee well! 
Nay, go thy ways — a better part for me. 

Filled with the love of beauty like the Greek, 
From gloomy fears and superstitions free 

The near delights of earth I fain would seek — 
Fair nature's smile, man's fellowship sincere, 
For joy is in my heart and Heaven is here. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE SQ 



HAPPINESS 

Two kinds of sorrows vex your lives with care, 

Things that you can, and things you can not 
mend; 
If you can change them, do it. Why despair? 

If not, then why your days in torment spend? 
For beauty is around you ever^^where 

In the blue sky or cloud, at noon or night. 
And glory fills the heavens, and earth is fair 

Whether its mantle be of green or white. 
Whence cometh joy? On many a pampered son 

Nature bestows her richest gifts in vain. 
While from some crippled, poor, neglected one 

Her songs arise with smiles that banish pain. 
The well-spring is within to curse or bless. 
In your own hearts is grief or happiness. 



40 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



MOTHERS 

Though I had lost my little ones I tried 

To spin life's thread anew and bring relief 
To other suffering creatures at my side_, 

And one poor mother filled my heart with grief. 
Her babes were pinched with hunger and half-clad. 

Her home was cold and empty. So I gave 
Enough for food and warmth. 'Twas all she had — 

But once she came and would my pardon crave: 
"I pray you think me not too bold/' she said, 

"I spent the half of all that you have given 
In holy mass for those sweet children dead; 

I could not rest till they had hope of Heaven." 
Dear Lord, who from our hearts the veil dost lift, 
What sayest Thou? "Who brought the richer gift? 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 41 



DIES NEFASTUS 

I RAGE at all the world! All things conspire 

To vex and fret me ! Hear that rasping noise, 
That blackbird chatter ! Look ! from my open fire 

A cinder leaps and my new coat destroys ! 
My morning mail is full of vain demands ! 

I hear a friend has left me in the lurch: 
I learn of neighboring missionary bands 

Coming to make me say 111 go to church ! 
'Tis not enough to wish that I were dead^ 

I feel like Nero as I snarl and groan 
And almost wish mankind had but one head 

That I might chop it off and live alone ! 
The imps of Sheol on my spirit prey ! 
'Tis the thirteenth ! my most unlucky day ! 



42 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



EARLY SPRING 

Cloudless the sky; the first warm sun of spring 

Has broken through the chill of winter days; 
The tender twigs give sign of blossoming; 

The distant wood sleeps softly in the haze; 
The ants are venturing forth; the bluebirds call 

Responsive out of somewhere in the sky; 
The shadows of the trunks and branches fall 

O'er the brown leaves that on the hillside lie. 
Lo ! something is astir^ tho' all unseen. 

In every blade and spray^ the boughs are bare, 
Yet teem with promise of their coming green 

Won by the warm breath of the quiet air. 
So let thy life, like this prolific hour 
Teem with the promise of new leaf and flower. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 43 



THE DREAM OF YOUTH 

The world is mine! What prizes doth it hold! 

What golden apples hang upon the tree ! 
Knowledge and honor^ power and wealth untold^ 

Beauty and love — and all shall come to me ! 
A name that shall endure throughout all time — 

Since others have achieved it^ why not I? 
And history shall write my deeds sublime. 

And all salute me as I pass them by. 
With high and noble purpose and a mind 

Filled to the brim with love of righteousness. 
With speech to sway the councils of mankind, 

With deeds to thrill them and a heart to bless, 
What glittering hopes upon my pathway shine! 
1*11 scale the topmost peak! The world is mine! 



44 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



A RETROSPECT 

The dreams of youth were vain^ but in their stead 
Came better things; no fame^ but household joy 
And wholesome duties; peace without annoy. 

Deep love and constant; she whom I did wed 

Hath never changed. Yet one dark sorrow spread 
Its shadow over us and did destroy 
A golden hope; our gentle brown-eyed boy. 

His fair-haired sister's guardian, with her fled 

To other lands; and we above the dead. 
Who lie together on a hillside green 

Do sometimes stand, our quiet tears to shed. 
Remembering the beauty that hath been 

And how it passed. Soon in such narrow bed 
We too shall lie, beneath the stars serene. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 45 



INDIAN SUMMER 

When I review the landscape of my life 

From the calm hillside where I pause and rest 
All vanished are the storm and wind and strife 

And gone the clouds that floated o'er its breast. 
The fields lie warm in sunshine; a faint haze 

Broods o'er the valley 'neath the mellow sky; 
The leaves that fluttered down through autumn days 

All crisp and shriveled on the earth do lie. 
Fond hopes were they — those withered dreams of 
fame ; 

Yet love remains and I am well content; 
If but some fragrant memory bless my name 

'Twas not in vain these teeming days were spent. 
Soon shall the winter snowflakes cover all 
Nor would I seek to stay them as they fall. 



46 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



DE SENECTUTE 

The leaves fall fast, the locks upon my head 

Grow thin and gray. 'Tis winter comes apace. 
Soon will the foliage of the woods be dead 

And icy tempests hide fair nature's face. 
Yet shall my hearth be bright and shed a glow 

Cheery and warm as if the summer smiled. 
While the clear sunshine that my heart doth know 

Shall gleam afresh in youth from age beguiled! 
Love, tears and laughter and the hate of wrong 

Let me still keep them ! And my young desires 
I will pursue with dancing feet and song 

Till the last ember on the hearth expires ! 
Nay, let mine ear grow dull, eye dim, and body fail. 
Yet o'er the wreck a dauntless heart prevail ! 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 47 



FALLING LEAVES 

The autumn days are here; the brown leaves fall 

Reluctant, one by one from bush and tree; 
Friend after friend departs; I hear a call 

And wonder if the summons is for me. 
Not as when once in youth with choking fear 

I heard that voice, my hopes all unfulfilled; 
To-day with quiet heart the call I hear. 

Each vain regret and dark foreboding stilled; 
For I have lived my life, my days are done ; 

Their clouds and sunshine, joys and sorrows 
spent — 
Shame of defeat and pride of victory won — 

And soon to my long rest I go content. 
Whether to wake upon some happier sliore 
Or sleep without a dream forevermore. 



48 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



PALLIDA MORS 

Young was I and strong, joyous and full of hope. 

How beautiful was the world ! What treasures of 
knowledge to be explored! 

What dreams of glory and achievement! What 
good to be done to a dull, foolish generation ! 

What visions of a better era when poverty and vice 
and wrong should cease ! 

Oh, to be a leader in the struggle for the emancipa- 
tion of mankind! 

And the raptures of woman's love ! For kind eyes 
smiled on me. 

And the voices of the maidens around me were 
merry with laughter. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 49 

What sunshine on the wings of my fancy ! what 

gold on the morning clouds as they opened 

before me ! 
When lo ! a voice at my side ! *'Nay^ come with 

me/' it whispered. 
I turned and behold! a haggard face and very 

pale^ 
With cavernous eyes that were blazing with desire 

for me^ 
And a long skinny hand that struck me on the 

breast. 
"WTio art thou?*' I asked, and it replied, "I am the 

White Terror, 
Who gathers the young and fair by thousands in 

the pride of their youth/' 
Then it spoke no more but walked a little behind 

me and silent, at my side. 
While the fever and the dull pain in my breast 

were there to remind me. 



50 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

How could a good God send this thing when flowers 

and sunshine were around me everywhere? 
But the face still peered over my shoulder^ and 

there was no answer. 
The physicians admonished me to flee — ^to the 

mountains — to the dry plains of the West^ 
And I became a fugitive — wandering to escape my 

doom^ 
But still I heard the patter of bony feet beside me 

and the face was there and the dull pain. 
Then I cried and prayed in my agony^ but for a 

long time all was in vain; 
The footsteps followed^ followed without ceasing^ 

then there was a little respite. 
And as the years went by they fell behind and at 

last I heard them no more. 

Now the evening lights are around me and I see 
ag^in the face of the destroyer. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 51 

At first it was a little way off, now it draws nearer 
and nearer^ 

It can not be very long until I must heed the sum- 
mons. 

But now its countenance is changed; pale stilly but 
calm and with a smile. 

It seeks not to clutch me as of old with passionate 
eagerness^ 

But it would win me as a friend and counsel jne to 

quiet slumber. 
And were it not for gentle ones around me who 

would fain keep me a little longer. 
Its soft voice would almost persuade me to follow 

it with joy unto the tomb. 
For that thing which is inevitable, what better time 

than to-day if all is ripe? 
I am not yet weary of the world — Why wait till 

the heaviness of age shall overcome me? 



52 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

My work is well-nigh done — A little more or less 

what matters it ? 
And afterward — ^whether it be resurrection or 

eternal rest^ I shall still be content. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 53 



THE BEE 

A BEE through my half-opened window flies 
And flutters in the sunshine on the pane. 
Beating against the glass in efi*orts vain 

His tireless wings, while to escape he tries. 

Dull creature ! In their own way bees are wise. 
For dwellings trim in swarming towns they build, 
Store honey till their granaries are filled. 

And armies, crafts and guilds they organize. 

But on that unfamiliar pane, this bee 

Can not discern the way that he must go, 

Marks not that close at hand is egress free 
To the blue sky and that clear morning glow. 

Only the 'customed pathway can he see 
Only his round of daily duties know. 



54 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

We deem ourselves far wiser than the bee. 

We rear our stately cities ; we explore 

The hidden depths of nature; from her store 
We heap with gems and gold our treasury; 
We scour the heavens and we roam the sea; 

We fain would touch the stars ! How much we 
know! 

Yet when our feet to other worlds would go. 
Threading the mazes of eternity. 
In wild and aimless wanderings they try 

This way and that ; we beat our wings in vain 
Against the glass ; false pathways we descry, — 

Delusions dull! We strive again, again. 
With useless toil to reach the shining sky. 

Blind as the bee upon the window pane ! 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 55 



HOW SHALL THEY THINK OF ME 

How shall they think of me when I am gone — 
Those that I love ? With sob and sigh and tear^ 
Toiling with bowed heads through the heavy 
year. 

In sackcloth and in ashes shall they groan. 

Stifle the songs of birds with cry and moan. 
Banish all joy of life with frown austere, 
And hush the children's laughter in dull fear. 

Darkening fair nature to one somber tone? 

No ! let the laugh ring clear, the jest be gay. 
The song as blithe as ever; I'll be there 

To dance again that merry roundelay 
And chase afar the surly brood of care! 

Forget me not, but in your work or play 

Give me my part nor deem I am ^way. 



56 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

BEYOND THE VEIL 

Brothers, if in that country where you dwell 
Come thoughts of earth and those who linger 

here. 
Be sure that they whom you have held so dear 

Are with you still to-day. No funeral knell 

Hath chased away your presence, nor can quell 
In faithful hearts the sense that you are near 
Which we have kept through many a changing 
year — 

The love which time nor death can quite dispel. 
We almost hear your voices — touch your hands; 

You seem to come once more and smile and speak ! 

Soon to your world we pass, where we must seek 
Your surer guidance through those unknown 
lands — 

Your welcome, when beyond the silent sea 

We climb the hills that touch eternity. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 57 



NON PIANGERE 

Weep when thy lover's arms are turned to clay^ 

Or when the breast that nourished thee is chilly 

Or curling baby locks are put away. 

When bright eyes close and prattling lips are 
still; 

Mourn for the youth whose hope is crushed in 

bloom. 

For the sweet maid, by loathsome death defiled, 
Or for the bride who trembles at the tomb. 

Or the young mother who must leave her child ; 
But not for me, whose count of days is done. 

Whose work is ended and whose pulse is low. 
For I can look upon the setting sun 

And fear no harm, and watch the evening glow 



58 XYRICS OF WAH AND PEACE 

Fade upon field and forest and far hills, 

Fair landscape of the past ! and slowly mark 

The flickering lights appear^ while quiet fills 
My soul^ that fain would drowse i' the gather- 
ing dark 

And welcome a long slumber^ still and deep, 

E'en though it were an everlasting sleep. 



PERSONALIA 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 6l 



PETRARCH 

Across the centuries and in every land 

His name is honored still. In that long night 
When learning's flame was quenched^ it w^as his 
hand 

That lit the torch and brought the welcome light. 
So says the world, and yet it treasures more 

Those songs that tell of frailties like our own — 
The fruitless love which many a year he bore 

That grew the brighter when its hope was gone. 
The lays wherein his passion was enshrined 

Outlast the ages. While from day to day 
I read his lines, old age is left behind 

And youth returns; these scattered locks of gray 
Turn brown once more, and solemn wisdom dies 
Under the witchery of my lady's eyes. 



62 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



OLIVER P. MORTON 

Few are the spirits so supremely great 

That they can turn the tides of destiny 
With ruin fraught and drive the waves of fate 

To dash on other shores ; yet such was he. 
Our state was drifting to the dark abyss 

That yawned behind secession ; treason lay 
Lurking on every side; all hearts but his 

Faltered in doubt upon that perilous way. 
His arm alone our heavy burdens bore 

That else had crushed us. For adversity 
Inspired him. Through that long and bitter war 

He held us steadfast unto victory^ 
While Lincoln gave to freedom its new birth 
And kept alive the people's rule on the earth. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 63 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Lo ! he would lift the burden from the weak. 
Kindle with hope the dull eye of despair. 
And for the common weal all things would dare, 
Scourging the money-changers, smiling, sleek, 
Forth from the temple till on him they seek 

Impotent vengeance. Slanders must he bear — 
Foul imprecations that infect the air; 
Lies, till the heavy breath of Heaven doth reek 
With stench of calumny; the assassin's blow. 

The mockery of the proud; the stinging thorn 
Of fickle friendship, flattery turned to scorn; 
Yet while the coming years their gifts bestow 
Crowning great names with glory, his shall shine 
In the front rank of our illustrious line. 



64? LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



TO JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 

When from tormenting cares I steal away 

To haunt the quiet river side^ to hear 
The murmur of the stream^ to note the play 

Of quivering foliage mirrored sharp and clear 
Upon its tranquil breast^ to see the boys 

Plunge in the swimming hole^ to thread the lanes 
Close-thicketed and share the wanton joys 

Of forest birds^ to watch the heavy wains 
Creaking and toiling through the shallow ford^ 

To mark the cricket's chirp and drone of bee, 
Or sit a welcome guest at the farmer's board, 

Hearing quaint talk and rude philosophy, 
Riley, thy music comes, a soft refrain 
And blends with all in one harmonious strain. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 65 



TO THE SONNET 

Thee Dante fashioned with celestial art* 

And bathed thee in the azure air and gold ; 
Through thee did Petrarch pour his loving heart 

In silver streams that down thy numbers rolled. 
Amid thy measures Shakespeare's soul did shine 

When first he bent thy form to our dull tongue ; 
And Milton's lyre awoke in strains divine. 

When to thy chords his tuneful notes he sung. 
And Wordsworth loved thee, and through thee did 
pour 

His music of the woods and lakes and hills; 
And Riley brought thee to the cottage door 

With sound of rustling leaves and trickling rills. 
O Sonnet, proud indeed thy heart should be 
That thou hast dwelt in such high company. 

* The first four lines after Carducci II Sonetto. 



AD PATRIAM 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 69 



AD PATRIAM 

Hope of the worlds to whom the hopeless come 
In thronging multitudes^ and shelter find 
In thy protecting arms — whom all men seek 
And none avoid ! Even before thy birth 
God knew that He would love thee^ for Fie gave 
To thee as to none other all His gifts — 
Stretched the vast deep around thee as a wall 
Fringed with a thousand harbors for thy fleets — 
The two great oceans glittering at thy feet 
With cliff and bay and headland and long range 
Of shining beach— on thee He hath bestowed 
All fruits^ all climes^ all seasons; the rude North, 
Bending the pines with snow and strengthening 
The sinews of thy sons, — and the soft South, 



70 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Where the cane rustles and the summer winds — 

Breezes of endless summer — stir the palms 

And fan the orange groves. Thou art alone 

A world unto thyself; with mountains^ plains — 

Innumerable peaks and prairies broad — 

And strong swift streams to carry to the sea 

From farm and mill^ from woodland and from mine. 

The long neglected treasures of the soil. 

How many ages did the forest wait 

The woodman's ax and the luxuriant grass 

Nod on the plains beckoning the husbandman! 

Roll back the years, my soul ! bring to mine eyes 
The scenes from whence my country's glories 

sprang; 
First that small bark, freighted with hearts content 
To brave the sea, famine and wilderness. 
But not to palter with their faith and God. 
I see the fabric of their infant state 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 71 

Established ere they reached the barren shores 
Whereon to build it ; I follow their stern lives ; 
And watch the race through toil and pain grow 

strong 
Whose seed shall be the leaders of mankind. 

And now the clouds descend and hide my dream; 
And when again they break^ lo ! thirteen states 
Uniting, form a nation ; teach the world 
The new strange truth that men are equal all ; 
And look ! this fresh child Hercules goes forth 
Strangling the Lernean coil of "right divine," 
And hews his way through eight long years of war 
Against an empire ! Bitter was the strife. 
Slow the deliverance, from Valley Forge 
To that last day at Yorktown, when the sword 
Passed from Cornwallis' hand, to the great chief 
Who is and shall be first in all our hearts ! 
Calm, true, majestic, constant as the stars, 



72 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

His is the central figure for all time 

In the world's chronicles of liberty ! 

Around him stand the fathers ; men with minds 

In girth and height gigantic^ not alone 

To fancy's ken^ but measured by the line; 

Not merely freedom's tongues^ but architects 

And builders of a state^ elastic, strong. 

Fit for the changing needs of coming times. 

The fairest work that statecraft ever planned. 

Had they but given the dark sons of toil 

The rights proclaimed for all. But this one flaw 

Weakened the noble structure till it leaned 

And tottered to its fall. 

For now the mist 
Thickens, and when again it breaks, I mark 
A great Republic spread from sea to sea 
But rent with grievous discord, and mine eyes 
Peer shuddering o'er the edge of the abyss 
That yawned behind secession, where I see 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 73 

My country's mangled body bleeding, torn — 

Who shall deliver her? Behold! a face 

Shines through the gloom, strong, homely, gentle, 



Like the Redeemer's visage; filled with the light 
Of one high purpose, that the people's rule 
Shall fail not on the earth. The fetters fall ! 
The reunited nation lifts her head 
Above the slaughter of a thousand fields. 
Strong, free, erect, her great sin washed away. 
While on the brow of her deliverer 
God sets the thorny crown of martyrdom ! 

Once more the vapors drift before mine eyes 
And when they float away, I see a form 
Fairest among the nations, with glad face 
Lit by the smiles of Heaven, on fruitful paths 
Of industry outstripping all mankind. 
And holding high a torch to light the world. 



74 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Lo ! on an island close beside her doors 
The stricken ones behold it, and they cry 
Craving deliverance. Hark ! the bugles call. 
The bright sword glistens, and the vow is made 
To put it not away till they are free ! 
I watch the fleets go forth, and see the gates 
Flung open, where in eastern climes the sun 
Brings in the new-born day. Before me lie 
The islands where the task is ours to bring 
To the brown peoples, out of darkness, light. 
And out of chaos, law. 

Land of my heart. 
What future is before thee? Shall it be 
To lie at ease, content with thy bright past. 
Heedless of all the world, till idleness 
Relax thy limbs, and swoln with wealth and pride 
Thou shalt abandon justice and the poor? 
Or shalt thou, reawakened, scatter wide 
The glorious tidings of a liberty 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 75 

That lifts the latch of opportunity 

First to thy children — ^then to all mankind? 

Love of my soul — God keep thee strong and pure, 

That thou shalt be a fitting messenger 

To carry hope to all the sons of men. 



76 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



THE CITY'S CROWN 

What makes a city great? Huge piles of stone 

Heaped heavenward? Vast multitudes who dwell 
Within wide circling walls? Palace and throne 

And riches past the count of man to tell^ 
And wide domain ? Nay^ these the empty husk ! 

True glory dwells where glorious deeds are done;, 
Where great men rise whose names athwart the dusk 

Of misty centuries gleam like the sun! 
In Athens^ Sparta_, Florence^ 'twas the soul 

That was the city's bright immortal part^ 
The splendor of the spirit was their goal. 

Their jewel the unconquerable heart! 
So may the city that I love be great 
Till every stone shall be articulate. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 77 



TO WOMANKIND 

"The morality of submission and the morality of chivalry are 
past. The time has now come for the morality of justice." 

—John Stuart Mill. 

I. SUBMISSION 

Upon thy delicate flesh and dainty form 

What fetters man hath bound! He offered thee 
Homage — 'twas mastery ! shelter from the storm — 

It was a prison; Opportunity — 
To be his slave and toy! He made a vow — 

And called it wedlock and then wrote the law 
That ruled thee with the rod! He would "endow 

With worldly goods^*' yet stripped thee — and he 
saw 
Thy children torn from thee; thy duty still 
Was meek submission to his sovereign will ! 



78 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



II. CHIVALRY 



Thy knight hath fought the tourney — won the prize^ 

Hath laid it at thy feet on bended knee. 
Hath sought the smile of thine approving eyes 

And vowed undying love and loyalty. 
Beauty still findeth favor in his sight, 

Grace doth he show thee as in days of eld 
But never justice, and that sovereign right 

Whereon all rights depend is still withheld. 
Thine but to charm him and his cares beguile — 
To win him with a tear or with a smile. 



IIL JUSTICE 



Slowly the gates of Opportunity 

Open at last, and ever more and more 

Woman is ruler of her destiny. 

And shattered many a bond that once she bore. 

All shall be broken! Man shall seek her aid, 
Not in the narrow bounds of home alone, 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 79 

But for the common weal^ and wife and maid 

Shall speak with voice as potent as his own. 
God speed the moment when in every land 
All doors shall open to a woman's hand ! 



80 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



THE PAWPAW 

Deep in our Hoosier woods a fruit grows wild 

That sheds an Orient fragrance^ faint and rare — 
Perfume of spice from Araby exiled — 

Breath of the tropics in an alien air ! 
Smooth is its seed_, dark green and sleek its skin; 

Slender and frail the tree whereon it grows; 
Luscious the melting yellow pulp within 

That ripens till the winter tempest blows. 
How comes it here to the rude Norths — this soft 

Child of the Southland — of ambrosial flavor 
When first we taste it^ but at last^ too oft^ 

It palls the palate with its sickening savor; 
And like the wine cup or the wanton's smile 
It cloys the sense that it had charmed the while. 



TRANSLATION AND PARA- 
PHRASE 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 8S 

TO AMARYLLIS 

To Amaryllis with my song I go — 

To woo her, while upon the grassy hill 

With Tityrus my she-goats crop their fill. 

Good Tityrus, thou'lt feed them well I know. 

Lead them to springs where the cool waters flow. 

And of the yellow he-goat have a care. 

The Lybian, lest he butt thee unaware. 

Ah! lovely Amaryllis, why no more 
Turn thy soft eyes as in the days of yore, 
Down thy dark cave to me.^^ 
Nay, can it be 
Thou hatest me and that I do appear 
Snub-nosed, with bristly beard when I am near? 
Oh, I shall hang myself for love of thee ! 
I bring thee apples plucked where thou didst say 
And I will bring thee more another day. 



84 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Pity my sorrow ! Were I but a bee — 

That humming bee that dips beneath the fern 

And the dark ivy leaves that shelter thee ! 

Alas ! with the fierce fire of Love I burn 

That bites me to the bone. A stern god he 

Whom sure the lioness in his infancy 

Did suckle and his mother reared alone 

In the deep wildwood. Ah^ thou heart of stone 

So fair to look upon ! Ah ! dark-browed maid. 

Embrace thy shepherd true! In this thick shade 

Give me thy lips to kiss! 
For e'en in vain caresses there is bliss. 

In fragments small thou soon wilt make me rend 
The wreath of ivy that I keep for thee. 
Dear Amaryllis, and with rosebuds blend 
And sprays of fragrant parsley. Woe is me ! 

What anguish do I bear ! 
Where shall I go? Thou hearest not my prayer! 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 85 

I will cast off my coat of skins and leap 
Into those briny waves out yonder where 

Olpis^ the fisherman, his watch doth keep 
For tunny shoals, and there, if I shall die 
Surely thy cruel heart 'twill satisfy ! 

I knew my fate. I asked the poppy leaf 

"Loves she or not?" and 'twould not cling nor 
stay 

Nor give a crackling sound, but to my grief 
On my smooth arm it withered fast away. 

And Greco, who divineth by the sieve 

And with the reapers to the field doth fare. 
To bind the sheaves, she said my heart doth live 

On love of thee, but that thou hast no care. 
Truly the white goat do I keep for thee 

And the twin kids that Mermnon's daughter too, 
The brown-skinned Erithakis asks of me; 

1*11 give them to her since thou art not true. 



86 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Lo ! my right eyelid throbs. Is it a sign 
I'll see her? I will lean against this pine 
And sing to her. Perchance shell look on me. 
She is not made of adamant like thee. 

Lo! Hippomenes when he did aspire 
To win and wed 
A fair and noble maid 
Took apples in his hand and won the race. 
For, plunged in the deep waters of desire. 
Fair Atalanta^ saw, and stayed her pace. 

The seer, Melampus, too, his herd did lead 
From Othrys down to Pylos. For his meed 

* The Boeotian Atalanta was the daughter of Schoenus. The 
Delphic oracle had warned her against marriage, and she re- 
quired every suitor to contend with her in the footrace. If he 
won he was to be rewarded with her hand; if he lost he was to 
be put to death. She was the most swift-footed of mortals and 
had overcome many suitors, but when Hippomenes aspired to her 
hand Aphrodite gave him golden apples from the garden of the 
Hesperides which he dropped one after another during the con- 
test and Atalanta, stopping to pick them up, lost the race. The 
pair afterward profaned by their love the temple of Cybele and 
were metamorphosed into lions and yoked to her chariot. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE S7 

On Bias' arms the lovely mother lay 

Of wise Alphesiboea.* Such a way 

Did young Adonis on the mountains feed 

His flocks^ that Cytherea he did lead 

To heights of frenzy so that sore distressed 

Even in death she held him to her breast. 

Blest is Endymionf in his quiet slumber. 

And lasion^J too, dear maid, for he can number 

Such joys as the profane shall never know. 
My head doth pain me but thou dost not care; 

• Neleus, the son of Tyro and king of Pylos, declared that he 
would give his beautiful daughter, Pero, in marriage to the suitor 
who should bring to him from Othrys in Thessaly the herd of 
oxen of Phylacus, which had formerly belonged to Tyro. Bias 
was in love with Pero and his brother, the seer, Melampus, un- 
dertook the task. Phylacus gave him the herd as a reward for 
wise counsel: -he brought it to Pylos, whereupon Pero became the 
wife of Bias and the mother of Alphesiboea. 

t As Endymion slept on Latmus, his beauty warmed the cold 
heart of Selene (the moon), who came down to him and kissed 
him and lay by his side. 

t lasion, beloved of Demeter, who lay with him "in a thrice- 
plowed field," for which Zeus slew him with the thunderbolt. 

—Odyssey, 5, 125. 



88 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

111 sing no more, but unto death I'll fare; 
Here may the wolves devour me_, lying low. 
Yet sweet to thee 
As honey in the mouth my death shall be. 

— Theocritus, Idyl III. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACR 89 



TO POLYPHEMUS 

With apples Galatea pelts thy flock 

And says the goatherd is a laggard swain. 
Thou heedest not^ hard man ! while she doth mock, 

But to thy pipe betakest thee again. 
And now behold ! the dog that follows thee 

To guard thy flock — ^him she is pelting sore. 
Anon he barks and gazes toward the sea 

And the waves show him capering on the shore. 
Take heed he leap not on the maiden fair 

And rend her flesh when from the brihe she 
springs. 
But look again ! and see her wantoning there 

Like thistle-down that the hot summer brings ! 
When thou dost woo, afi*righted will she flee 
But when thou woo'st her not, she follows thee ! 

— Theocritus, Idyl VI. 



90 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



THE CYCLOPS' ANSWER 

I SAW her. She escaped not that dear eye 

Wherewith I hope to see to my life's end. 
'Twas to torment her that I passed her by. 

And that I loved another did pretend; 
That she in pain and jealousy might pine 

Or in her madness leap from out the sea 
Gazing on all those caves and herds of mine 

Which she hath lost because she flouted me. 
In faith I'm not so hideous as men deem, 

For lately when I looked into the blue 
(The waves were still) all fair my beard did seem 

And that one eye of mine was comely too — 
As I count comeliness — and my teeth were white 
As Parian marble glittering in the light! 

— Theocritus^ Idyl VI. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 91 



THE SONG OF BOUKAIOS 

Muses, who dwell by the Pierian spring 

Whatever ye touchy you make it wholly fair ! 

Come then with me; her praises let us sing — 
A slender maiden, sweet beyond compare. 

A gipsy do they call thee, brown and lean. 

Dear Bombyca, and withered by the sun ! 
I only know thee truly, and I ween 

'Tis honey-pale thou art — thou gracious one ! 
Though dark the hyacinth and violet. 

We choose them first when we our garlands twine ! 
On Aphrodite's altar would I set 

(If but the wealth of Croesus once were mine) 



92 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

All made of gold, the image of us twain — 
Thou with thy flute, an apple or a rose. 

And at thy side thy madly loving swain 
In fair attire, and with Amy clean shoes ! 

Like carven ivory are thy shining feet. 

Thy ways past telling, thy voice drowsy sweet ! 

— Theocritus, Idyl X. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE QS 



HYMN TO APHRODITE* 

O QuEEN^ who lovest Golgi and the steep 
Of Eryx_, jutting o'er the glittering deep — 
O Aphrodite, thou who play'st with gold ; 
The dainty-footed Hours have come, behold ! 
They bring thee back Adonis who had gone 
To the eternal stream of Acheron ! 
Of all the immortals tardiest are they. 
But come at last to those who wait and pray. 
And bear with them a gift. And now to thee 
They bring thy love from Death's captivity — 
O Cypris, daughter of Dione fair. 
From mortal to immortal, men declare 

* Sung at a festival given by Ptolemy Philadelphus and Ar- 
sinoe, his wife and sister, at Alexandria. 



94* LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

That thou our Berenice* did'st transform. 
Dropping ambrosia on her bosom warm. 
Therefore for thy delight it is but meet 
Her daughter Arsinoe, comely, sweet 
As Helen's self, should serve Adonis fair 
With sacrifices beautiful and rare. 
Before him lie ripe fruits of many a tree 
From many a garden's rich fertility. 
See the array these silver baskets hold ! 
That Syrian incense in those cups of gold ! 
And from the kneading tray the dainty cake 
Of whitest wheaten flour that women make 
With oil and trickling honey, deftly done 
Into the shapes of things that fly and run ! 
And here are built for him green shady bowers 
Thick-laden with the tender anise flowers, 
WTiile happy wanton children, breathing love. 
Are fluttering through the foliage above, 

• Wife of Ptolemy Soter, mother of Ptolemy Philadelphus and 
of Arsinoe. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 95 

And the young nightingales with trembling fly 

From bough to bough their tender wings to try. 

O gold and ebony and eagles twain^ 

Of whitest ivory that bear amain 

Unto the son of Cronos^ like a steed 

The darling of great Zeus, fair Ganymede ! 

O purple coverlet, more soft than sleep ! 

Two couches are there, one doth Cypris keep. 

One, rosy-armed Adonis, fair to see — 

A bridegroom still in early youth is he 

With kisses soft and lips with down of gold. 

See ! Cypris now her lover's arms enfold ! 

Good night to them ! But when the night is through 

We all will gather with the morning dew 

And to the waves upon the beach repair 

And thither sweet Adonis will we bear. 

Ungirt, with breasts unclad, and tresses free 

We will begin our shrill sweet melody. 

• A variation of the myth which represents Zeus as carrying 
Ganymede to Heaven upon a single eagle, to be his cupbearer. 



96 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

SONG TO ADONIS 

Thou only, dear Adonis, so men tell. 

Dost visit both the world and Acheron's stream ; 
Never such lot to Agamemnon fell 

Nor mighty Ajax in his wrath supreme, 
Nor Hector, eldest born of twenty sons 

Of Hecuba, nor dear Patroclus slain, 
Nor Pyrrhus who returned (the legend runs) 

From out of Ttoyland with the Grecian train ; 
Nor yet the heroes of more ancient days. 

The Lapithae, nor chiefs of Argos old, 
Deucalion's sons, nor Pelops' fatal race — 

Of none of these is such a story told. 
Adonis, when thou comest thou art dear 
And ever shalt be — Bless the coming year ! 

—Theocritus, Idyl XV. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 97 



THE TUTOR OF LOVE 

Great Cypris came to me while still I slept 
And the boy Love in her fair arms did bring; 

His head was bowed to earth as if he wept; 

She said "Dear herdsman, teach him how to 
sing." 

Then she departed, and to Love I taught 
In innocence, my store of pastoral songs ; 

Told how Athene wise the flute had brought, 
How to Apollo sweet the harp belongs. 

These things I told him, yet he heeded not. 
But sang himself full many an amorous lay, 

Till all the lore I taught him, I forgot 
But what he sang, I hear it still to-day. 

—Bion, Idyl V. 



98 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



THE PORTRAIT 

Master of the Rhodian art. 

Best of painters true and tried. 
Come paint for me the mistress of my heart. 

For she alas ! is absent from my side. 

Paint me first her rippling hair 

Black, yet very soft and fair. 

Till I see the tresses stir 

And feel their breath of fragrant myrrh. 

Beneath her dark locks draw for me 

Her perfect cheeks and brow of ivory; 

And be sure thou keep the grace, 

(Not broad nor narrow) of the space 

Above her arching eyebrows where they meet. 

Paint, if thou canst her sweet 



LYRICS OF WzVR AXD PEACE 99 

Alluring glance of hidden fire 

Melting with the heart's desire 

Like Cytherea's, yet from eyes as blue 

As those of fair Athene^ clear and true. 

Then mingle with the snows 

Upon her cheek the color of the rose^ 

And see thou do not paint amiss ' 

Those soft persuasive lips that sue for many a kiss. 

While round the throat of marble that doth lie 

Beneath her delicate chin, the Graces fly ! 

And last of all I pray 

Clothe her in fair array — 

In a thin robe of purple hue; 

A little let the flesh show through. 

So that I may descry 

Her body sweet beneath the drapery. 

Now it is done ; and look ! herself I see 
And soon that image fair shall talk with me ! 

— Anacreon, Ode 15. 



100 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



METAMORPHOSES 

Tantalus' daugbter^^ it would seem 
Became a rock by a Phrygian stream. 
And Pandion's childf as I have heard 
Was once transformed into a bird. 
But I your looking-glass would be 
So you would often gaze on me; 
Or I would be a tunic new 
If you would wear me close to you; 
I would be water clear and fresh 
That I might bathe your dainty flesh ; 
Or I would be some perfume rare 
That should anoint 3"0ur shining hair ; 

* Niobe, changed out of pity by the gods into a rock on Mount 
Sipylus, which still wept with sorrow for her lost children. 
t Procne, turned into a swallow. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 101 

I'd be the fillet 'neath your breast^ 
Or pearl that on your throat doth rest ; 
Or else your sandals^ for 'twere sweet 
If you would even press me with your feet. 
— Anacreon, Ode 22. 



102 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



DANTE ON BEATRICE 

My lady beareth love within her eyes 

Which doth ennoble all it doth behold. 
Men look^ and whom she greets in gracious wise 

A trembling reverence doth his heart enfold; 
And each with lowered visage groweth pale 

And at his own shortcomings doth he sigh. 
Before her face both pride and anger fail. 

Women give aid to sound her praises high ! 
Every sweet thing and humble thought the while 

Stirs in his heart who hears her accents kind^ 
And he who once hath seen her — blest is he; 
And how she looks when she begins to smile 

Can not be spoken nor be held in mind 
Such a strange gentle miracle is she. 

—Vita Nuova, XXI. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 103 



PETRARCH 

Master Francesco, I have come to thee 

And to thy friend, that gentle, fair-haired dame. 
To calm my angry spirit and set free 

My grim soul by sweet S organs crystal stream. 
Look ! shade and rest I find beneath this tree ! 

I sit, and to the lonely shore I call ; 
Thou comest, and a choir encircles thee 

Who greet me with a friendly welcome all. 
And that sweet choir — ^they are those songs of thine, 

Down whose fair sides their golden tresses fall — 
Escaping from the rose-wreaths that entwine 

Their gathered folds, in ringlets prodigal; 
And one doth shake her locks, and the rebel cry 
Breaks from her tuneful lips, "Rome ! Italy !" 
— From the Italian of Carducci. 



104 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 



BEFORE SAN GUIDO 

The tall and slender cypresses that from San 

Guido go 
Lining the road to Bolgheri in a long, straight 

double row. 
Like youthful giants in a race, seen clear across 

the skies. 
Nodded in friendly greeting as they flashed before 

mine eyes. 

They knew me well and whispered, with their tall 

heads bending low, 
"Return to thy old home again, no further needst 

thou go. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 105 

Why wilt thou not come down to us? Why wilt 

thou never stay? 
The evening air is fresh and cool and thou know- 

est well the way. 

"Abide thou here and sit thee down within our fra- 
grant shade 

Where the cool breezes from the sea so oft with 
thee have played. 

We bear no grudge against thee for the stones that 
thou didst throw. 

They did not harm us in the least; and that was 
long ago ! 

**Those precious nests of nightingales, we keep 

them still to-day. 
Ah! wherefore wilt thou pass us by and fly so 

swift away? 



106 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Remain with us f orevermore ! The sparrows still 
at eve 

In circles round our lofty heads their courses in- 
terweave." 

*'Fair little cypresses of mine ! Ye faithful friends 

and true_, 
Friends of a better_, happier time that I would fain 

renew^" 
(I looked upon them as I spoke), "Could I my wish 

fulfil, 
With what a light and joyful heart I'd linger with 

you still. 

"But yet, my little cypresses, you needs must let 

me go; 
For this is not the merry time that once we used to 

know; 
If you could only understand! 'Tis not for me to 

say, 
But really I have become a famous man to-day. 



Lyrics of war and peace 107 

"For I have studied and can read both Greek and 

Latin^ too; 
I write and write and there are many other things 

I do. 
O cypresses^ I'm not a naughty urchin any more, 
And stones I throw no longer as I used to do of 

yore. 

"At least not at the plants." And now a quiet 

murmur swept 
Round the hesitating tree-tops as their evening 

watch they kept; 
And piercing through their depths of green, the 

waning day, the while 
Beamed rosy red upon me with a kind and loving 

smile. 

And then full well I knew that both the cypresses 
and sun 

Had a tender, gentle pity for poor me, the wan- 
dering one; 



108 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

And soon the murmur turned to words_, its meaning 

to impart — 
*'0h^ yes ! full well we know it all^ a wretched man 

thou art ! 

**Full well we know it_, for to us the wind has told 
the tale — 

The wind that bears the sighs of men upon its sor- 
rowing gale — 

How in thy breast eternally those maddening con- 
flicts rage 

Which thou hast neither wit nor power to stifle nor 
assuage. 

"To us and to these oak trees here thou freely 

mayst reveal 
The sadness that oppresses thee^ the grief thy 

heart doth feel. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 109 

Oh, look ! how calm and peaceful, how clear and 
blue the sea! 

And how upon its quiet breast the sun sinks lov- 
ingly ! 

"See how the flight of many birds hath filled the 
sunset sky ! 

How merry is the chatter as the sparrows flutter 
by! 

To-night, the nightingales in song their brimming 
hearts shall pour. 

Oh, stay with us, nor still pursue thine idle phan- 
toms more! 

"Those phantoms vain and bootless that across thy 

fancy start. 
By impious thoughts are driven from the caverns 

of thy heart. 



110 LYRICS OF WAa AND PEACE 

As at night unto the wayfarer the putrid flames will 
rise 

From charnel houses foul and dank and flash be- 
fore his eyes. 

"Stay with us, and to-morrow, when the noonday 

heat has come. 
And in the shade of mighty oaks the steeds are 

standing dumb. 
While round about and far and near, on high and 

everywhere 
Over the burning, quivering plain, a silence fills 

the air, 

""We cypresses will sing to thee in chorus full and 

high 
The songs that hover ever between the earth and 

sky; 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 111 

And from these elm trees there shall come the 

nymphs and dryads fair 
To fan for thee with their white veils the sultry 

summer air. 

*'And Pan^ the eternal, who is wont upon this hour 

of day. 
On barren heights and o'er the plains to take his 

lonely way. 
He shall transform the stifling cares that round thy 

spirits twine — 
Poor helpless mortal that thou art — to harmonies 

divine/' 

''Beyond the Apennines/' I said, *'is a home to 

which I fare 
Where a little child awaiteth me who needs her 

father's care. 



112 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Titti is like a sparrow, but no feathered gown hath 

she 
To keep her warm in winter days, so you must 

leave me free. 

**And something else the child must eat than cy- 
press berries hard. 

And I have not the fortune of a smug Manzonian 
bard 

Who draws four times the recompense his verses 
ought to gain. 

So farewell, cypresses ; farewell, my sweet and fer- 
tile plain!" 

And they answered as we parted, **Dost thou not 

remember still 
That thy grandam lieth buried in the graveyard 

on the hill?" 



LYRICS O^ WAR AND PEACE 113 

And while they vanished from my sight they 

seemed a black array 
Grumbling that I had scorned them as they fled in 

haste away. 

And now from out that graveyard at the summit of 
the hill, 

Down the green lines of cypress which I saw in 
fancy still. 

Tall and arrayed in sable gown, appeared that an- 
cient dame 

My grandmother Lucia, and with stately step she 
came. 

And from her gracious lips, beneath her white and 

waving hair 
Harmonious flowed the Tuscan speech in accents 

soft and rare 



114 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Filled with the power and sweetness the Versilia 

doth impart 
To the tongues of all her children; how it lingers 

in my heart! 

"Grandmother mine^ how fair it was, that tale you 

used to tell 
When I was but a little child — ah! I remember 

well! 
Tell it again to this wise man! I'd hear it still 

to-day. 
The tale of her who sought in vain the love that 

fled away." 

''I've worn out seven pairs of shoes made all of 

iron and strong. 
And seven staffs my feet to stay upon my journey 

long; 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 115 

And seven flasks of tears I've filled, through seven 

weary years. 
Yet here you sleep and will not wake for all my 

cries and tears/* 

'* Grandmother mine, your verses yet seem beautiful 

and true 
And the lost love that all in vain my heart doth 

still pursue 
Both morn and eve and day and night through 

many a weary year, 
Perchance if I but knew it well is close beside me 

here 

"Under thesie swaying cypresses that wooed me all 

in vain. 
Within whose shade I never hope to rest my head 

again. 



116 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

Grandmother mine^ perhaps it sleeps in your grave- 
yard there above. 

Among those other cypresses — that cherished^ van- 
ished love." 

And now with many a puff and snort the engine 

steams away. 
While in these idle reveries my wandering fancies 

stray. 
And look ! a graceful flock of colts, like a troop of 

laughing boys 
Caper and bound across the field, and whinny at 

the noise! 

But an old gray ass stands cropping a thistle red 

and blue, 
And not a whit disturbeth him this mighty din and 

hue; 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 117 

He will not deign to lift his eyes for the clatter 
and the roar 

But slowly and sedately keeps on browsing as be- 
fore. 

— From the Italian of Carducci, 



118 LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 

KING CHAND TO THE DAUGHTER 
OF MITRA 

When the crisp breeze doth pluck thy mantle's 
wings 

And chides them that they hide a form divine 
And presses thy soft gown until it clings 

To thy lithe limbs and bosom's rounded line 
And lifts its hem from off thy shining feet 

And strokes thy hair and rumples every tress 
And fans thy cheeks flushed with the summer's heat 

And kisses thy red lips in wantonness. 
Longing I gaze and wish that I were he 

That I might touch thee with a hand so bold 
And leaping from the valley swift and free 

Thy gracious body in mine arms enfold. 
But I stand shamefaced for I would not dare 
Caress thee like that all-embracing air. 

— A Mine of Faults. 



LYRICS OF WAR AND PEACE 119 



BELOVIiD OF MY HEART 



Beloved of my heart ! It is thy love — 

I know it well — kindling the golden light 
That dances on the leaves_, or far above 

Soaring in opal clouds with fringes bright 
That idly drift across the morning sky. 

'Tis nothing but thy love — I feel it now — 
That stirs the breezes which go softly by. 

Leaving their coolness on my burning brow ! 
These blessed morning rays that come from thee 

Flooding my soul — ^they are thy message, dear. 
To my poor heart. Thy face bends over me. 

Thine eyes look down on mine and seem so near. 
That with a bound my soul leaps forth to greet 
Thy presence and to touch thy shining feet ! 

— Rabindranath Tagore. Gitanjali, 59. 



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